The article considers the piety that any kind of reading is good, because however trashy the material someone is reading it might lead them to read something better in the future. Hence the defence of many kinds of poor quality childrens books, often read by adults. The article argues that there is no evidence that reading genre works encourages readers to tackle more serious works. To the contrary, following Auden's analysis of detective novels, genre writing tends to be addictive. It concludes with the reflection that there is no absolute value in reading as such and no evidence to suggest that someone who doesn't regularly read literature is necessarily less cultured or inferior in any way.
Reading Upward, 2014-08-11.
Reading Upward
PARKS, TIMOTHY HAROLD
2014-08-11
Abstract
The article considers the piety that any kind of reading is good, because however trashy the material someone is reading it might lead them to read something better in the future. Hence the defence of many kinds of poor quality childrens books, often read by adults. The article argues that there is no evidence that reading genre works encourages readers to tackle more serious works. To the contrary, following Auden's analysis of detective novels, genre writing tends to be addictive. It concludes with the reflection that there is no absolute value in reading as such and no evidence to suggest that someone who doesn't regularly read literature is necessarily less cultured or inferior in any way.
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